A few comments from the International LIDAR mapping forum (ILMF) from Denver

So what was cool at this week’s ILMF – International LIDAR Mapping Forum in Denver? Of interest, some 300+ attendees took in the cozy but informative event (this is up from 200 last year) and most people agreed that interest in LIDAR data and supporting tools and technologies is definitely on the up-swing. It’s interesting to note that there’s not a huge progress as of yet regarding standards, as such there’s loads of proprietary applications that are being used to process and manipulate LIDAR data for mapping and GIS applications. It’s always quite interesting to hear about what people are using LIDAR for.. we heard from many people that have taken advantage of lower data acquisition costs and have integrated LIDAR into their solutions. – many uses we heard of include coastal mapping, corridor analysis and monitoring, 3D mapping, oil & gas ROW mapping, etc… OF particular interest was the common reference to data fusion projects where existing projects are fusing higher-resolution LIDAR data within them to infill additional details to special areas of interest… makes sense! Those people interested in locating applications and tools useful for manipulating and managing LIDAR data should check out merrick, BAE, Leica geosystems, and Qcoherent software, to name a few. Finally, something very cool and new is the lidarxchange (See www.lidarxchange.com). This new service has been developed so that member users can buy, rent, sell, and post LIDAR related assets… think of it as a community LIDAR marketplace. Membership is being accepted although users should look into the coasts that are associated with serving and distributing data. More to come on the LIDAR forum soon. Couldn’t get to Denver? No worries, here’s a few pics from the event in my photoblog http://www.flickr.com/photos/gisuser/sets/72057594065204064/

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